B"H
Tishrei 18, 5766 * October 21, 2005
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L E S S O N S I N T A N Y A
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Today's Lesson:
Iggeret HaKodesh
(Middle of Epistle Twenty-Three)
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The distinction between [causing a Divine] indwelling (by collective study) and the allotment of a reward (to an individual student), is understood by discerning thinkers.
For the allotment of a reward is what takes place when G-d irradiates (20) "the soul that seeks Him" with the light of His Torah, which is truly the covering in which G-d garbs Himself.
[Through this garment, i.e., through the Torah, G-d irradiates the soul of the Jew who seeks Him.
This search for Him can take place either during the service of prayer that precedes one's study of Torah, or during one's actual study.
As explained at the conclusion of chapter 37 of Tanya, the Talmudic phrase "kore batorah" can mean not only "reading (i.e., studying) the Torah," but also "calling [G-d] through the Torah."
In this sense, when one studies Torah one resembles a child who calls his father, asking him to come and be with him].
For this reason the Torah is called "light", as it is written, (21) "He garbs Himself in light, as with a garment." (22)
[This verse refers to the degree of illumination (diffused by the Torah) which, like a garment, is finite.
Likewise, the faculties of the soul are inherently limited, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Since the light that emanates to the soul must be integrated within its faculties, this illumination itself must also be limited.
In the words of the Alter Rebbe]:
Now the soul is limited and finite in all its faculties. Therefore, the light of G-d that radiates in it is also limited and contracted, and vests itself within it.
This is why the hearts of those who seek G-d are ecstatically aroused at the time of prayer and the like.
For their hearts rejoice in Him and exult (23) "even with exultation and song," and their souls delight in the pleasantness of G-d (24) and His light as it becomes revealed through the covering in which [G-d] garbs Himself, which is the Torah; "and His arrow comes forth like lightning": (25) [from this garment, this illumination initially emanates to the soul with all the vigor of a lightning bolt]. (26)
This is the allotment of the reward for the [study of] Torah, which is always fixed in the soul that labors in it.
[Being fixed within the soul constantly, this reward is received by the soul not only in the World to Come - when the soul is enabled to apprehend rewards that are not to be obtained in this world (27) - but in this world as well.
And since this kind of reward consists of a finite degree of illumination, it can be received by the soul even as the soul finds itself within the body.
This is why it is written that a reward awaits even one individual who studies Torah].
Footnotes:
20. Eichah 3:25.
21. Tehillim 104:2.
22. Note of the Rebbe: "The proof text usually cited is the
verse (Mishlei 6:23), `For a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is
light.' Here, however, the Alter Rebbe seeks to show that the
study of `the Torah [that] is light' results in a Divine
irradiation, for `the light of His Torah,' like a garment, reveals
many aspects of that which is clothed in it. (This is why [the
Alter Rebbe writes above that `the Torah is simply] called light
(ohr),' for this term shows more than the term Tora Ohr - that
[the light of the Torah] serves as a garment by which G-d is
revealed.) See also the Tzemach Tzedek on the phrase Oteh ohr."
23. Yeshayahu 35:2.
24. The variant reading literally means "over G-d"; i.e., they delight
in G-d Himself.
25. Zechariah 9:14.
26. Note of the Rebbe: "See Iggeret HaKodesh, end of Epistle
XV, [regarding the light that comes forth] from "the source [of
the intellect, ... like ... a flash of lightning].'"
27. Kiddushin 39b.
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